One of my greatest joys as an author is being able to celebrate the publishing victories of my friends because I know so well the difficult journey from idea to product. Today, I’m celebrating with Marie. You might remember her from some old social media posts. Marie and I attended my FIRST seminary class together five years ago.
Since then, Marie has gone on to write a beautiful collection of devotional-style reflections. Today, she’s sharing one from her new release: Monday Morning Moments. (Isn’t the cover pretty?)
From Monday Morning Moments
I bought this hydrangea plant called “Endless Summer.” I do love hydrangeas, and at present, I have one that blooms beautiful white blooms in the spring and another that blooms beautiful rose-colored blooms in the fall. However, this hydrangea was different because it promised blooms all season long. Continuous blooms from spring to fall? Oh, how I needed this plant.
The other thing that made this hydrangea different from the two I already owned was the color of the blooms were unknown. It would be so neat to plant this beautiful flowery shrub and wait to see the color. The greenhouse where I purchased the hydrangea enclosed a pamphlet with gardening tips and such. The pamphlet stated that the color of the blooms depended on the soil in which the hydrangea was planted. What was inside, and hidden in the ground, would determine the color of the blossoms.
This made me think about my life. It made me think about the soil of my heart. What was deep in the soil of my heart, and what was that soil producing outwardly? I can say with certainty that when my heart has held on to bitterness, unforgiveness, anger, and resentment, the outward blossoms usually produced were hurtful words or actions.
So, what does the soil of your heart look like, friend? What kinds of blossoms are being produced by it?
God’s Word reminds us in Luke 6:45: A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Prayer
Lord, we ask that You reveal the condition of the soil in our hearts. May we be like David and cry out, “Create in me a clean heart, oh God, and renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10). Lord, may our hearts’ soil be rich in love, kindness, and gentleness, and may that be expressed through our words and deeds. Amen.
You can find Marie’s book on Amazon (UK), Amazon (CA) and Amazon (USA). Check them out and be encouraged in your walk with the Lord.
The Garden Girls is a psychological thriller/crime thriller by Jessica R Patch that follows Tiberius Granger who works for the Strange Crimes Unit, and this case leads them to the Outer Banks where a disturbing killer is collecting women and imprisoning them in cages.
Why does Jessica R Patch write such macabre stories?
I’ve been asked this repeatedly and it’s a great question! I never tire of it. The Garden Girls is about how the enemy often masquerades as an angel of light. What he offers is packaged pretty. He’s pretty. And once we’re hooked, he imprisons us. Evil isn’t always in red horns with a pitchfork. That kind of evil we’d run from. It’s the pretty we fall for. The seemingly innocent. And that’s what this is about.
My villain is dark but masquerading as light. And yes, it’s disturbing in some chapters. I don’t shy away from the super dark stuff—I’m not super graphic either. I know how to give enough detail that you fill in the blanks and that’s what probably is most chilling—your own imagination! But the reason I don’t sugarcoat or just create villains who shoot at you is because the world is a very dark place. Hearts are dark—including yours and mine. Jeremiah tells us the heart is the most deceptive and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Not us. But God.
God doesn’t sanitize Scripture
In God’s story, He doesn’t sanitize it. He doesn’t edit out the disturbing, uncomfortable details. He doesn’t approve of it. Nor does he endorse it. If you don’t believe me, just read the book of Judges and see what God’s chosen people are doing—how far they’ve fallen. How depraved they’ve become. Rapes. Mutilation. Murder. It’s all in just one story involving a man’s concubine. And while it’s hard to read, it always reminds me of my own dark heart. And the potential I have (and you) to become just like God’s people. The hopeful part is that God uses these severely broken, flawed people to accomplish His redemptive purposes. That means He uses me and you too!
Set free
This story isn’t just a shocking villain doing shocking things. It’s about cages that imprison us and it’s about Jesus opening them up and setting us free. It’s about sacrificial love and surrendering a life to God. And sometimes it takes hurricane force to do it—as in Tiberius Granger’s case. Being raised in a cult will do that to a person. Being raised in a legalistic church can do that to you. Turn you off to the things of God. To relationship. To truth. But God doesn’t give up. He does, however, allow a storm to come to set your straight. And that’s what this book is really about.
You can’t bloom in a cage. You’re planted and rooted in Christ.
Check out The Garden Girls by Jessica R Patch
On a remote Outer Banks island, a serial killer collects his prized specimens. And to stop him, an FBI agent must confront his own twisted past.
FBI agent Tiberius Granger has seen his share of darkness. But a new case sets him on edge. It’s not just the macabre way both victims—found posed in front of lighthouses—are tattooed with flowers that match their names. There’s also the unsettling connection to the woman Ty once loved and to the shadowy cult they both risked everything to escape.
Bexley Hemmingway’s sister has gone missing, and she’ll do anything to find her—including teaming up with Ty. That may prove a mistake, and not just because Ty doesn’t know he’s the father of her teenaged son. It seems the killer is taunting Ty, drawing everyone close to him into deeper danger.
As the slashing winds and rain of a deadly hurricane approach the coast of North Carolina, the search leads Ty and Bex to an island that hides a grisly secret. But in his quest for the truth, Ty has ignored the fact that this time, he’s not just the hunter. Every move has been orchestrated by a killer into a perfect storm of terror, and they will need all their skills to survive…
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.
Luke 10:38-42
Our school year began with good intentions. We wanted our children to develop a love for the Lord and a joy for learning. We didn’t want to get swept into discouragement or bitterness or simply be overwhelmed. We planned to model what it looked like to live for Christ, but as task after task fell to us, and child after child pressed those buttons they know so well, we were thrust into a place like Martha, where we were at risk of losing our joy.
Jesus speaks directly to Martha in our passage, and by looking a little closer, we see three things that can help us find our way back to the good and better portion.
First: It is not enough to only welcome Jesus with joy on the first day of school
Martha invited Jesus in. She welcomed him into her house. Martha loves Jesus and she receives him joyfully, but her joy turns bitter when things don’t go her way. So bitter that the Lord found it necessary to correct Martha’s attitude.
This can happen in homeschools. Joy sometimes turns bitter when things don’t go our way. So bitter that the Lord might find it necessary to step in and correct OUR hearts. Yes, He plans to use home education in the shaping and maturing of our children. And yes, He also plans to use home education in the shaping and maturing of us.
Second: Service can be distracting and cause anxiety
It’s quite possible that Martha desired to serve the Lord well using her gift of hospitality, just as we desire to serve the Lord well as home educators. There’s nothing wrong with this heart of service. However, when service distracted Martha from the Lord, Jesus pointed out how she had taken her eyes off the good thing—which was simply being in the presence of the Lord.
We start well. But circumstance has the potential to overwhelm us. So, we dig in, and little by little, we put distance between ourselves and Jesus because we are too busy working for Him to stop and be present with Him and it makes us anxious and troubled.
Third: Jesus is always concerned with the heart
One thing is necessary, Jesus says.
It’s interesting that Jesus doesn’t tell Martha to stop cooking and serving, He simply pointed out the better portion that she had missed. He pointed out the good thing that her sister already seemed to know: We are as close to Jesus as we let ourselves be.
The application here is NOT that all Marthas need to become Marys because the world needs Marthas just like the world needs Marys. The application is examining the overflow from our hearts and answering three questions:
Has my service to the Lord in home education moved me away from or closer to God?
Am I so busy educating my children and scheduling their day that I fail to model what it looks like to be present with God in my day?
Have I lost sight of the bigger picture of what God wants to accomplish through my home school and in my heart?
Whether we worship God through our service like Martha or worship Him through stillness like Mary, we can all choose the good and better portion that changing circumstances or a busy home school cannot take away from us.
Pray:
Lord, help us stop striving for more and more, to stop comparing what you’ve called us to do with what you’ve called others to do, and instead help us understand and celebrate how you have created us to worship you. Lord, we need you to help us choose the good and better portion each day and model it well, not just for the sake of those watching, but for the sake of our own hearts.
Are you in the Hamilton/Ancaster area in May? Are you considering home education? Check out the OCHEC Convention 2024 and be inspired, challenged, and encouraged as a home educator.
*I have the privilege of teaching a workshop titled: Why Do We Fight?
I rarely post about children’s books, but this one sounded super cute, and I expect some of you readers have sweet little ones that would be encouraged by the story of Phooey Kerflooey by Kristen Joy Wilks. Welcome, Kristen!
My husband (Scruffy) and I live and work off-grid at a remote Bible camp. The peaceful setting alternates between calm and chaos as herds of campers come to play and then rush home to be with their families once more, leaving us surrounded by the quiet of the forest and the rustling emptiness of our mountain meadow.
Maintaining the camp facilities adds its own brand of chaos even when the campers are gone. We don’t have water if the pump breaks or power if the generator has an issue, and when pipes freeze, water can flood the buildings.
When I was writing Phooey Kerflooey and searching for a theme that would truly push my young characters to their limits, helping them grow into their strengths, I settled on peace amidst chaos. I didn’t realize it at the time, but that theme is such a clear reflection of our own life here at the camp.
The protagonist wants a puppy to help calm down his daredevil brother, chase away an invading squirrel, and bring just a bit of peace to their chaotic home.
Our Newfoundland dog, Princess Leia Freyja, was such a comfort during the eight beautiful years that we were her people. Now, she was a crazy puppy. But she matured into a calm and loving dog who did therapy visits with me to local schools and always watched out for my husband.
One time, Scruff had to climb onto the roof of the camp’s main lodge to break away large chunks of snow and ice that wouldn’t slide down. With a worried slant to her ears, Leia watched him work. He was standing in the wrong spot when the last chunk started to slide and Scruffy barreled off the roof along with a small avalanche of snow! Leia was horrified!
She galloped over to where Scruffy lay atop a pile of snow, laughing. She did not think it was funny. Our worried dog leapt on top of his chest and licked and licked and licked him. Scruff could barely breathe for all her urgent care. He tried to sit up, and she slammed a paw down on his chest and pushed him back down. Then she licked him some more. Our girl wouldn’t let Scruff move until she was satisfied that he was both unhurt and well-washed.
Leia was such a gift from God. She brought us so much comfort during the chaos of camp work. When days were long and the needs of the people who were under our care were heavy, Leia always greeted us with a wagging tail and kind, understanding eyes. Stroking her soft fur brought us a moment of peace and her joy was contagious.
Losing Leia
Our three sons asked that I base a book character on our sweet Leia and thus Phooey Kerflooey was born. Before I could get the book polished and published, we lost our gentle dog to a brain tumor.
Both my husband and I have lost so many people over the years, but the loss of a dog is an especially difficult kind of pain. Dogs show love in a way that us humans can only aspire to with Jesus’ help. They love completely and with absolute forgiveness. Losing that made the chaos of ministry overwhelming.
Honestly, Scruff and I didn’t know if we would make it through that summer after Leia died. But with the Lord’s care, we limped along and He did amazing work in the lives of kids and staff despite our pain. Even using our pain for His work.
Comfort in a surprising place
You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.
Isaiah 26:3
For the entirety of our twenty-three-year marriage, my husband has refused to get a cat. But this fall, on a wet November day, someone dumped a half-grown cat into the forest near our mountain home. The neighbors found her and wonder of wonders, my husband, the man who couldn’t abide cats for any amount of time, suggested that we take her in.
What a gift from God as we struggled with the loss of our Leia. Whisper Persnickety is a gentle soul with a soft meow and velvet paws. She curls up on Scruffy’s lap while he works on his computer and she twines around our feet all day, just wanting to be close. Her soft coat and gentle purrs bring that glimpse of God’s peace into our chaos once more.
Isn’t it just like God to answer our prayer for peace with the very kind of fuzzy friend my husband refused to consider? But God is like that. The peace He gives doesn’t have to wait for the roar to die down. It is stronger than whatever kind of chaos we find swirling around us. A gentle whisper in the storm, such is the peace of God.
The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper
I Kings 19:11-12
Kristen Joy Wilks writes from a remote mountain meadow that alternates between quiet and chaos. She can be found tucked under a tattered quilt at 4:00 a.m. writing a wide variety of implausible tales or at www.kristenjoywilks.com. Sign up for her newsletter and enjoy a free book!
It’s hard to imagine a more powerful and incomprehensible truth than that the God of the universe sees, knows, and loves us intimately. Whenever I think of it, I echo King David’s words from Psalm 8:4, “What is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him?”
Two Sparrows for a Penny series
This idea, that God is always with us and sees and knows us, is the theme threading through all my romantic suspense novels, maybe none more so than my series two sparrows for a penny. This series follows the stories of three foster sisters—Tala, Rose, and Jae—who make a rash decision to run away from the foster mother they love, Felicity, after finding out she is dying. Convinced Children’s Aid will separate them, they throw together a plan to leave home in the middle of the night and find a place to hide out for a few months, until Tala and Rose turn eighteen.
The plan does not go well. A few blocks from home, a white van pulls to the curb and four men jump out. Tala and Rose are taken and spend the next eight years being trafficked (not spoilers – all of this happens before the series begins). Jae manages to get away, but she then disappears, and no one sees or hears anything from her during those eight years.
Tala manages to hold on to her strong faith during this horrific time. As she says later:
“I felt him. He was always with me—every time a man came into my room or Brady hit me or another girl disappeared. And God spoke to me, too, through beauty. There were always moments of beauty, even in the midst of all the horror.”
“Like what?” Cole couldn’t imagine beauty surviving in a place like that.
“My room had a window, high up. I couldn’t reach it to look out, but I could see the branches of a tree outside. Every season brought a gift—buds bursting out of their shells, thick green leaves with birds flitting between them, the stunning colors of fall, snow drifting softly from the sky to land on the bare branches and glisten in the moonlight. All of it even more breathtaking in contrast to the ugliness on my side of the window. The beauty of creation resonated deep inside me, as though God was using it to reach through the glass and let me know he saw me, that he hadn’t abandoned me. It gave me hope that one day there would be beauty in my life again, and that hope helped me to survive.”
In contrast, Rose struggles to hold on to her faith, to believe that God has not abandoned her. After she is rescued, she and Tala have this conversation:
They propped their elbows on the top frame of the lower pane of glass and gazed at the moon, the silent fields below glimmering silver. As far as Rose could see, those tiny flickering candles in the sky pushed back the darkness of the night. Tala nudged her gently. “What would you wish for tonight?”
The last prayer-wish Rose had made—for freedom from captivity—had come true. What were the desires weighing most heavily on her heart tonight?
“Peace. Healing. Joy. Hope.”
Tala kept her gaze fixed firmly on the heavens. “Love?”
“I have that already. From you and Felicity and Tag. My family.”
“What about from God? Can you feel his love?”
Rose gazed up at a star twinkling more brightly than the rest. “I think I’m starting to, yes. And maybe, when I look back, I felt it during those years at Brady’s too. Only I wasn’t sure what it was. Or I was scared to trust it.”
Two Sparrow for a Penny: books 1 & 2
The first two books in the series, Every Star in the Sky and Every Flower of the Field, are stories of healing in the aftermath of human trafficking. What Tala and Rose both come to see is that, even in the darkest, most evil circumstances imaginable, God was there, watching over them like He did the flowers of the field. And He saw them and knew their names like He did every star in the sky. That truth allows them to begin their journey of healing and finding love.
Two Sparrows for a Penny: book 3
Book three, Every Bird That Falls, tells the story of Jae, the third foster sister. Jae was not raised with a faith. When she comes to Felicity’s home, she sees faith in God in action for the first time and is deeply impacted by the love and grace her new foster family shows her. What happens to her during those eight years also tests her faith, but looking back she can see that God’s eye was on her, that, as no bird falls without his knowledge, He saw everything that happened to her and He was watching over her.
The awareness that in the midst of their horrific circumstances they were never alone allows all three women to begin to heal, to open their hearts to trust and love again.
Grab a copy at the PRE-ORDER price and save a bundle. Canada / USA
Takeaway from Two Sparrows for a Penny
And that is what I hope and pray for every story I write—that readers will take away with them the reassurance that they are never alone. That whatever they are going through, whatever they may have done or others have done to them, God is faithful and has promised to never leave them or forsake them. And, as Lia, my heroine in another of my stories, The Color of Sky and Stone, reminds the hero, Tane, “What can separate us from the love of God? Nothing. And what can tear us out of his hand? Nothing. Those are promises straight from the Word of God, and he cannot break his promises and still be God.”
Let’s Chat
What verse or passage of Scripture reminds you most powerfully that God is with you and will never abandon you?
Sara Davison has a passion for writing stories that keep readers on the edge of their seats—and maybe swooning a little. A finalist for more than a dozen national writing awards, including the Christy Award, Davison is a Cascade, Word, and two-time Carol Award winner for romantic suspense. She lives in Ontario with her husband, Michael. Like every good Canadian, she loves coffee, hockey, poutine, and apologizing for no particular reason. Get to know Sara better and subscribe to her short, monthly newsletter at www.saradavison.org.
